Clean Up Your Social Media Presence In Six Steps

March 31, 2015

If your brand’s social media management has changed hands one or more times, it is likely that you will need to do a little dirty work and start your social media presence on a clean slate. In order to give your client’s social profiles somewhat of a “fresh start,” spend some time performing a social media profile cleanup to get them on the right track.

There are a few reasons why a social media profile cleanup is important and six steps you should take when performing this task.

1. Get rid of bad content.

It is likely that the content strategy you recommend is different from the content that has been shared by the management team in the past. Go through the streams on each social network and delete posts that are no longer relevant to the new strategy or branding. Once you begin publishing new updates on behalf of the brand, it should appear to be a smooth transition. You do not want their audience to notice a complete change in tone from one day to the next.

2. Optimize the bio.

Perform a review of the bio section on each network and edit the copy to give fans a general overview of what the page or profile is about. The bio should be short and concise while giving key information about the brand that fans can find right away. The goal is to make it easy for fans to understand the company’s offerings without having to dig for it.

3. Update apps and plugins.

Sometimes a stale Facebook page will have a laundry list of old apps that have not been utilized since they were installed to the page. Review the apps to determine which you plan to use and remove any unnecessary clutter from Facebook tabs.

4. Use brand consistent design.

Just as a website needs design updating, so do your social networks. Create a fresh new look and feel for your brand’s social media presence, and mirror the design across all social media profiles that you will be working with. Consistency in social design is key for clean and professional branding.

5. Be a helpful resource for others.

A great way to establish your brand as a credible resource is to create and manage lists or guides. Review the current Twitter lists and get rid of anything useless. Edit your collection of lists to provide value to your followers. This can also be done on Pinterest. Create and maintain boards that others will come to for information. For example, if you are planning on running your first triathlon and have no idea where to begin, a Pinterest board with training tips, guides on how to find the perfect running shoe, and nutrition programs will be your biggest help.

6. Stop #FollowBacks and purchasing followers.

The most important step in a social media profile clean up is to review the community that you are working with and clean up the dirt. In many cases a brand’s social media followers are purchased for pennies to give the illusion of a large presence and social media campaign success. This is most common on Twitter.

The number of fans or followers a brand has is less important than the quality of the community that has been built. A brand with 1 million followers will not benefit from 1 million followers if the audience is irrelevant to your brand. Essentially your status updates, pins and posts will receive little to no engagement and will not increase sales or brand awareness.

Do your brand a favor and unfollow the #followbacks or purchased fans. They will not help your brand increase its social media presence.

Heather’s experience in marketing and public relations for brands spans the hospitality, food and beverage, CPG, telecommunications and education industries. She has helped brands successfully grow their online community through blogging, community management, email marketing, blog management, influencer outreach and much more.

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Brands With Fans is a social media marketing blog owned and operated by Fandom Marketing, a full service digital agency that's social. Get expert insights to integrate social marketing to your business and engage customers.